AN EVENTFUL VOYAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23083, 8 January 1937, Page 8

AN EVENTFUL VOYAGE

LAUNCH GROUNDS ON ROCKS CRASH IN HEAVY FOG FORTUNATE ESCAPE OF CREW 'Special to Daily Times) AUCKLAND, Jan. 7. Being driven through a heavy fog at full speed because the governor of the engine was out of order, the 55ft Diesel launch Shenandoah ran aground on the rocks at Piercy Island, near Cape Brett, early on Christmas morning. Three members of the crew scrambled ashore, but the owner. Mr H. R. Jenkins, of Auckland, remained on board the boat after it slipped off the rocks and drifted helplessly in the fog until daylight. The impact caused both anchors to tear loose and go overboard with their warps, but although there were about five inches of water in the engine room, when Mr Jenkins was able to take stock of his position at daylight comparatively little damage was done, and the launch was taken to Opua for repairs. New planks were put in the hull and the stem, and the launch continued her cruise to Auckland, where she arrived this morning, leaving again later in the day for a further cruise. With his son, Mr H. C. Jenkins, Mr Jenkins left Auckland by car on December 30 to join the Shenandoah at Opua for a cruise to Auckland. A heavy fog came down when they were on the way, and near Kaiwaka the car left the road and somersaulted down a six-foot bank. Mr Jenkins and his son escaped with minor bruises, but the car had to be abandoned, and some new parts for the oil pump of the launch, including a governor arm which they were carrying, were damaged, the governor being badly bent. It was as a result of this that when they joined the launch at Opua and left nn the cruise shortly after midnight Mr Jenkins was unable to reduce speed below 12 knots. When a neavy fog came up about half a mile from Cape Brett the visibility was very poor, and the lighthouse could not be seen. Mr Jenkins attempted to steer by the compass on a north-easterly course and then changed it to a northerly direction. The launch ran into Piercy Island just past The Hole in the Wall, striking with considerable force. Mr H. C. Jenkins and two other members of the crew, Messrs B. Donovan and P. Aldred, jumped on to the rocks and stayed the night there, until Mr H. R. Jenkins, who, in the meantime, had been drifting off-shore with the launch, was able to get the engine going and come in to the land for them. The Shenandoah was then taken to Orupukapuka, as it had been found that the engine would go up to 700 revolutions. Bailing had to be done most of the way from Orupukapuka. The Shenandoah was towed to Opua, where repairs were effected before the cruise to Auckland was continued without further incident.